Sprint PCS Thinks Cellulars Could Use a Wake-Up Call

When Sprint PCS launched its wireless telephone service in Orange County this month, it touted the program as the “replacement for cellular.”

But cell phone system operators AirTouch of Irvine and L.A. Cellular of Cerritos are yawning.

PCS--which stands for personal communications system--is the new digital wireless telecommunications program that improves the quality of data transmission and makes electronic eavesdropping extremely difficult.

That’s because the transmissions are encrypted and sent as digital electronic signals rather than as radio frequency broadcasts that anyone with a good short wave (or sometimes just a cell phone on the same frequency) can listen in on.

However, the cell phone people say they’ve been offering the same type of digital service for some time now and aren’t too worried about the new PCS providers, whose networks aren’t yet national. Sprint PCS customers in Southern California, for example, can only use the service in Orange and San Diego counties right now. Los Angeles County and other areas of the state are scheduled to come on line later this year.

AirTouch spokeswoman Lisa Ackerman said that when Sprint PCS launched its marketing blitz down south, “we were concerned about how it would affect us. But it turned out that we had the lowest [customer turnover] in our history. People are more concerned about the size of the service area than anything else.”

Bruce Crair, vice president and general manager of the Sprint PCS regional office in Irvine, won’t say how many customers have signed up in Orange County, but maintains that sales are brisk and on target.

Crair says that Sprint PCS already has 300 employees in Irvine--550 in the Southern California-Nevada region--and that the number could increase as the company rolls out more Southern California service areas this year.

The company is marketing its phones and monthly service plans (no multiyear contracts required, although the phone is $199 with a 30-day money-back trial period) from kiosks at the Westminster and Mission Viejo malls and the Triangle Square center in Costa Mesa. Additionally, Sprint PCS phones and service plans are sold at numerous electronics retailers throughout the county.

John O’Dell can be reached at (714) 966-5831 and at [email protected]